KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — The inaugural Asean Geoeconomics Report, proposed by Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister LIew Chin Tong, is set for publication in November this year.
During the Asean Joint Foreign and Economic Ministers’ (AMM-AEM) Meeting last Saturday, he also suggested that the report would be published annually.
“The report is not meant to be a policy decision but a mechanism for new ideas to be ventilated and debated publicly,” he said in a statement.
Liew further proposed that the institutionalisation of AMM-AEM should include the regularisation of joint meetings between senior officials and senior economic officials.
The deputy minister said the establishment of a high-level task force for geoeconomics that includes officials from both the security and economic pillars, as well as eminent persons from non-governmental backgrounds, to form a Track 1.5 platform for deliberating ideas that address security and economic concerns.
Liew added that when the Asean Geoeconomic Task Force (AGTF) was established half a year ago, he expressed his vision to the panel of experts, including former Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, Bank Negara Malaysia assistant governor Fraziali Ismail and former Miti secretary-general Tan Sri Rebecca Sta Maria as as lead expert, to produce a credible expert report similar to the Delors Report of the European Union. — Bernama
